Improvement in stills for petroleum



P. H. VANDER WEYDE.

Still for Petrqleum.

Patented March 6, 1866.

No. 53,062. v

I UNiTE-n STATES PATENT PETER H. VAN DER VVEYDE, M. D., OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN STILLS FOR. PETROLEUM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,062, dated March 6, 1866.

l exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of this invention consists in using a succession of three, four, or more perpendicular stills heated to different degrees of heat by a single furnace arranged in such a way that the temperature of each may be regulated by the operator, and connectedin such a way that the condensed vapor of eachis collected in the next, and also may be run back to the first without being exposed to the air.

To enable others skilled in the art of distilling petroleum to make use of myinvention, I will describe its construction and operation.

The four stills A, B, O, and D are connected by the distilling cooling-coils F, H, K, and L, in the usual way, and by the tubes P, R, S, and T, in such a manner that the contents of all may be run back in the former and even in the first still A. For this purpose they are placed in an ascending order, as indicated in the drawing, gaining by this the advantage of economizing the heat of the flue, which is sufficient to distill the most volatile constituents of the petroleum.

The arrangement of the flue is shown in Fig. 5 2, where a horizontal section exposes the channels h, t, and k, leading from one still to another, and the side channels, I, m, n, and 0,

x leading directly to the chimney 2, (indicated also bythe dotted lines in the upper drawing, Fig. 1.) Each of those channels may be entirely or partially closed by sliding valves, so that by closing it the still A is alone heated by closing Z and t and opening h, A and B are heated, and so on, till, by opening h, z, and 7c and closing I, m, and n, all the stills are exposed to the heat.

To judge of the amount of oil present in each still the glass tubes to a, b Z1, 0 c, d d, and

c c, Fig. 1, are provided similar to those attached to steam-boilers, and the contents may be drawn off by opening the stop-cocks m m m m", or runback by opening a a a n.

. In the first still, A, the tar is drawn by the stop-cock q.

The same gradual rise of the stills is observed in the arrangement of the cooling-vessels F H K L, the uppermost of which, L, receiving the coldest waterat its bottom, has an overflow at the top and delivers its slightlywarmed water to the next, K, where the same flow is repeated until the water, by flowing through the last or lowest condenser, F, has become heated enough to warm thelittle stream ofpetroleulnflowing through the coil in W and feeding the first still, A, constantly. In this way we obtain the coldest water for condensing the most volatile products and economize the heat obtained by the successive condensation of the vapors. As by this heating of the petroleum in V some vapor of naphtha is set free, a tube, X, is provided to carry it to its proper condenser in L. I

It is clear from this description that in the same way as the heat decreases from. the

stills A to D, so the heat of the water in-" creases from the tanks Lto F. At the lower end of each coil F, H and K a double curve is attached to the attachment of the gas-pipe, and also to prevent the vapor of the still under it to ascend by the wrong channel.

To put the apparatus in operation the still A is filled to three-quarters of its contents with crude petroleum, and the sliding valve h, Fig. 2, closed, so that only A is heated. Soon all the volatile products will collect in B. These volatile products are lubricating-oil, kerosene, benzine, and naphtha or gasoline. When the still B is sufficiently filled the slide in h and m is opened and L and i closed. Now a lesser heat will act on B, and the more volatile kero- In my still this maybe done at one operation.

When, namely, the kerosene has been found to satisfy the specific-gravity and fire test, it may be drawn off and the contents of D and E run back to B or even A, to undergo a new run back by the tubes P, It, S, and T.

the last product of the former distillation;

naphtha, becoming heavier all the time, finally kerosene. This kerosene in its turn,becomdistillation, which breaks up part of the henzine and heavy oils and changes them into kerosene.

It must also be mentioned that as soon as the amount of petroleum diminishes in A the steady supply through the heating apparatus in W may be turned on to keep it to an almost constant level. From time to time, however, the supply is shut off and the still A almost emptied by distillation, in order to draw ofi' the tar by the cock g.

During the operation samples may be drawn to see what kind of oil is in the stills through the cooks m m m m, or, to see what kind of oil is comingin each still, through the cocks in the double bend r s t u. According to the result of those investigations the heat may be regulated by the slides in the flue or the contents By this arrangement we overcome several objections to the old manner of distillingfor instance, that the most volatile ingredients, gasoline or naphtha coming first, are always contaminated with the lubricating-oil adhering to the interior of the tubes as remnant of but the principal objection to the manner thus far used is, that in the beginning of the operation nothing but naphtha comes 0" r, and this descends below 70, (by the scale of the customary hydrometer,) and is called benzine, and when this runs below 60 it is called ing during its flow in the course of the operation heavier all the time, finally reaches below 40, is then not combustible enough for the purpose intended, and is called lubricating-oil.

.It is clear that by this manner of proceeding the last benzine distilled over contains considerable amounts of the much more valuable kerosene. This first kerosene, being contaminated with benzine, is too inflammable to be run in the kerosene, must be run with the benzine and be lost. It makes the benzine less pure and really less valuable, robbing it of part of its strong solvent properties, besides causing a direct loss of the most valuable kerosene.

What I claim as my invention, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of three, four, or more stills, in the manner described, in order to obtain with a single tire and one single opera l l l l l l 

